WOOLEN AND WORSTED MANUFACTURES. The spinning and weaving of wool was practiced from an early period in Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, end some other coun tries. It is very probable that the first lesson which our ancestors received in this art were got from the Romans after the conquest; but the origin of the manufacture as a great staple is generally supposed to date from the time of William the conqueror, when some Flemish weavers came to England, and ohtlined the patronage of the queen. The trade, however, fell off during the troubles of succeeding reigns. In 1331 it revived again by another supply of Dutch weavers brought over by Edward III. In 1530 the introduction of the spinning-wheel gave a new impetus to the trade. French workmen, driven to England by the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, still further aided it by their skill in the making of fine cloth, and from that time to the present it has steadily prospered. It is hardly necessary to state that the woolen trade has shared, in common with other leading textile manufactures, the great advancement they have received from the spinning-jenny, the mule, and the power-loom.
There are two great classes of manufactures using wool as a raw material: in the one where carded wool is employed, the goods are called "woolen fabrics;" in the other, where combed wool is used, the goods are called, " worsted fabrics." We shall first treat of the woolen manufacture.
As our articles on SPINNING and WEAVING are general, we shall here briefly state the chief stages in these processes, as applied to the manufacture of woolen cloth. A fleece of wool is Ent sorted by experienced sorters into qualities, as first sort, or pick-locks;" second sort or quality; third sort or quality; and so on. Sometimes i it is only divided into three, sometimes into as many as six kinds. The "scouring" is the next step, and consists in immersing the wool in an alkaline lye, which forms a soap with the natural greese of the fleece. This of course acts as a detergent, and cleans the wool thoroughly when it is washed in water. Upon the perfection with which the scouring is performed, depends in great part the beauty of the dye. It is often dyed
at this stage, and is then said to be wool-dyed; if not dyed till it is woven; the cloth is said to be piece-dyed. For some purposes, it is dyed in the yarn.
Scoured wool, whether dyed or not, next undergoes the operation of " willying." The " willy" is a machine used to cleanse the wool from dust and other loose impuri ties. In many cases, seeds with hooked scales like burs are so thickly entangled in the wool, that it requires to be passed through a " burring machine," and afterward exam ined by "pickers." This is especially the case with South American wool, including that of the alpaca. Alter this, the wool is sprinkled with olive oil, which renders the fibers soft, flexible, and better fitted for later operations. The next process consists in tearing open the matted portions, and separating the wool into small tufts by means of a machine called a teaser, tucker, or devil. It has a large cylinder studded over with iron pikes, which performs from 1000 to 2,000 revolutions per minute, teasing the wool as it revolves, and throwing like flakes of snow.
The two next operations are called scribbling and carding, and are performed by two somewhat similar machines, the essential parts of which will be understood by refer ring to fig. 2 in the article Srmcnnro. Each machine consists of a large cylinder sur rounded by several small rollers,. alt covered with wire cards or brushes. These, acting like fine-toothed combs open out mix, and blend the fibers into a uniform and continuous sheet or lap, in which state it leaves the scribbler; but in the carder, the sheet is at length converted into small rolls, say from a quarter to half an inch in diam eter, which are afterward joined together, and form the basis of the thread. In the next machine, called the these rolls are drawn out, slightly twisted, and, in short, half converted into yarn. The spindles upon which these dubs or slabbing, are wound pass them to the where they are converted into finished yarn.